[LVAS] Beginners Scope First-Light

Thu Jan 28 06:14:04 PST 2010

All,

I sent out an e-mail earlier saying that I had purchased a Celestron "FirstScope" 76 mm reflector this past week-end at the "Regional Gathering of Amateur Astronomer's" here in Boiling Springs, NC. 

Jeff of Camera Concepts from New York had a pallet of them for $49.95. 

I have been looking for a durable and "quality", easy to use beginner's scope for my granddaughter Zoe, that is nine years old. I am hoping to get her interested in astronomy and telescopes.

It was only during my visit to Las Vegas last week that I realized that Zoe has a pretty good front yard for observing. I am also hoping to get her dad, my son, interested in astronomy again. He was the one to get me back into serious observing almost 25 years ago.

The Celestron FirstScope:

It comes with two eyepieces: A 4 mm and a 20 mm

On the box it says 15x and 75x, but does not give the focal length, so a little quick math.

4 mm EP: 4 x 75 = 300 mm ... Check 300/4 = 75 x 

300 mm focal length divided by 76 mm's = 3.94 focal ratio, or f/4

Last night was the first night without clouds or rain that I had the opportunity to try it out. The moon was big and bright. 

A finder scope is optional. An accessory package can be purchased for about $20 bucks, which includes a small magnifying finder, a couple extra eyepieces, an astronomy CD, and a carrying case. Seems like a pretty good deal. 

I have two "Rigel Quik Finders", so I used a couple of rubber bands to attach to the OTA...please don't laugh, it worked good.    

I did a quick star test to check the collimation. I had my screwdriver ready, but to my surprise the collimation was perfect.  

Bright stars seems to be a bit jagged, just what you might expect with an f/4 spherical mirror...however background stars looked really good. I was pleased with the optics. Remember, this is not a $2,000 apochromatic refractor, and for sure the star images of my 4-inch Vixen refractor are a bit nicer. 

My first deep-sky object would be the Andromeda galaxy. I used my 12 mm UO Konig for a magnification of 25 power....excellent view. It appeared bright, elongated with a brighter middle. I then inserted my 2 x Celestron Apo barlow, using the same 12 mm EP, which gave me 50 X. I was surprised...brighter, more elongated with a hint of outer halo. Remember, the moon was very bright.       

I did find that when using my 24 mm UO Konig that the scope was pretty easy to sight without using the Rigel Quik finder. I did not measure nor calculate the widest FOV, but I could easily get all of the belt stars of Orion plus plenty of room on either side. I will time and calculate this on my next outing. 

My next object was M-42...again good view. At 50x I could actually see the trapezium stars during moments of steady viewing. I was pretty amazed with this test. 

Next object would be M-41. At 50 x, a nice resolve of stars. I could see the famous Espin star only because I knew which one it was. I could see a subtle difference in color...not orange but different than the other stars in the cluster.

I wanted to check out all of the Auriga clusters, but the moon was too close. 

I did my observing from my back deck with the scope sitting on a small ornamental metal  table. 

I looked at a few other objects and was just as pleased. This is indeed a worthy and excellent first scope and also could be good for the experienced observer with 10 other scopes. 

Why? Someone comes over with a casual interest and would like you to set up your 16-inch for a quick view of a few deep-sky objects...hey, no way. You have an hour or less to go out in your backyard. This scope can be ready to observe in less than a minute. 

I really like the looks of this scope and plan on keeping it set up in my bookshelf. Yep, this is my scope and I will get Zoe another one. Her Birthday is coming up very soon. 

Oh yes, the eyepieces that came with the scope worked pretty well also. 

Hope you enjoyed reading....

roger  

    The moon and stars to govern the night.....   Psalm 136:9

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